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E46 (1999 - 2006) The fourth generation 3 Series (E46 chassis) was introduced in 1999 and set the standard for engineering and performance during it's years of production including being named to Car & Driver's 10 best list every one of those years! ! -- View the E46 Wiki

Hello everyone,
Please help me out with a couple of problems that we're having with our BMW 330 i sport saloon.
Firstly, when the car is driven hard the clutch has started slipping I think, it smells and feels like it doesn't fully disengauge. Anyone had this before??? If so, please give an idea of cost??
Secondly, I have a constant drip of water coming form the passenger side bummer at the bottom underneath close to the wheel arch. I have filled my washer bottle up with die to see if its coming form there as I'm a little worried that its coolant. I'm not sure if water just lodges somewhere in the bumper to be honest and drips for a period of time. I have checked the coolant level and it appears to be okay but the washer bottle does seam to require refilling every few days! I didn't know if this was just because of the xenons.

For the fluid leak issue, have you smelled the liquid that is dripping? If it is washer fluid, you will smell the alcohol. Perhaps one of the hose fittings is a bit loose?

As for the clutch, can't say that I've had those symptoms. However, when you say it slips, is that on an up or down shift? Do you pause on an upshift and throttle blip the downshifts to match the RPMs? If not, you are probably giving the clutch a lot of wear and might be heating it up to much.

The washers are all sorted, its deffo a washer leak as I filled the washer res with orange juice and put a pan under the car. When I returned the pan had orange inside.

Clutch problem still persists though. I am really worried that this is gonna cost me big time but I can not help but think, ''should a clutch go on a car that is just 4 years old with 50 thousand miles on the clock, I mean, this is a £30,000 car for christ sakes?''. Surely not I continue to tell myself. It seems strange that nkbody else has come to me yet that has had the smae problem. The only thing that I can think of id=s this CDV. Clutch delay valve. It would be great if someone could tell ,e the purpose of this device.

Thanks for all comments so far guys. I will try the third gear trick from 10mph and we'll see what happens. The car does drive find when driven normally, its only when you give it some from a stand still!!!!

Thanks again, any more ideas are welcome and I'm checking this space every 10 mins.

Obviously I don't know how you drive in regards to your clutch, but clutch life varies on how smoothly you engage the gears at each shift. Some people can go through a clutch in 20k to 30k, while others get 200k+ on their clutch. This is no fault of the car, if it is indeed clutch wear. Is this your first manual car? If not, how many miles have you gotten on previous car clutches?

Try the method above in 3rd to see if that slips much. I have read other tests stating a similar test, but going 30mph and putting it into fourth and accelerating hard. It is hard buying a used car, sinc emuch of its history is unknown. You never know, the previous owner could have dumped the clutch at stop lights and peeled out. Or, they could have let an inexperienced driver use the car. Or, less drastic, it could be the CDV. I have an e36, so I can't really say.

Can the CDV cause this issue. I'm going out in a minute to test the car then I'll post the result so we know if it slips on test. I don't think it will but I would like to more about the CDV and if this is my problem!!!

Hello all,
I have been out in the car just and done the clutch test. I put the car in third from about 5 mph and floored it, it pulled away with out any clutch slip what so ever. I also tried it in 4th and 5th wothout any issues.
If you try the quick standing start it does however slip, this is a reved up standing start.

Not sure where to go from here apart from take it into BMW and charged the earth!!!!!

i havent read all the posts on this thread yet, but if your clutch isnt slipping when you floor it in third at 5mph then i dont think its really a clutch problem. and when you launch the car, you tend to slip the clutch alot depending on how much power the car has and how much traction you can get. thats just my thoughts on it though

325XiE46,
Thanks for your comments and I think you may be correct. The problem can not be so bad if there was no slippage on these tests. Maybe its just how the car is, it has 231 BHP so from a stand still there is a lot of power but I still wouldn't have thought it would slip like this.
Th car is however fine for normal driving.

heh, i know a guy who drives a prelude with around 200hp. in the stock clutch, if he drops the clutch at high rpms and floors it, itll slip like crazy. when he got a new racing style clutch, the same thing happened, but it happened to a lesser extent. i guess the extra gripping force the racing clutch had contributed to the lesser amount of slippage. its perfectly normal for it to slip like that though, but id say its only normal for starting out when your giving it too much gas, and when your shifting and giving it way too much gas (ive done it all plenty of times before on my beater)

it has 231 BHP so from a stand still there is a lot of power but I still wouldn't have thought it would slip like this.

i think when auto makers design cars and choose which parts to use, they choose parts based on alot of tihngs. one of those things is the power of the car(231BHP) and the type of car it is(im guessing its a sporty sedan). you dont need a clutch with plenty more grip then you would ever need, so they put a typical clutch in place there that does its job perfectly. for something like a porsche carrera GT, they need the racing clutches and everything, so theyll be needing a clutch with ALOT of gripping force to handle all the power so itll slip less and catch sooner.

325XiE46,
Thanks for your comments and I think you may be correct. The problem can not be so bad if there was no slippage on these tests. Maybe its just how the car is, it has 231 BHP so from a stand still there is a lot of power but I still wouldn't have thought it would slip like this.
Th car is however fine for normal driving.

Thanks for your comments,
Paul.

Hiya Paul:

It's not normal, and the CDV doesn't cause problems like this. Taking as a given that it's not "operator error", something is wrong with that clutch. Perhaps shagged friction plates, perhaps a broken return spring, perhaps something that someone who has actually seen the inside of his BMW's clutch assembly would know more about. ( )

I'd take it to an independent garage -- and not the dealer -- and have it looked at.